Exceptionnel vase

of circular form on a flat disc. The decoration is engraved and painted in reserve. It is based on two animated scenes interspersed with bands of glyphs arranged vertically and in steps. The first scene depicts a powerful lord richly dressed, seated, one hand resting on his upper thigh and the other raised, his finger pointing to offerings placed in front of him, intended for the god facing him. His headdress is arranged in three tiers, embellished with a crowned diadem with fabric on the last tier. He wears a honeycomb bun and on the bottom precious fabrics, exotic bird feathers and long braids falling elegantly down his back. His earlobes are pierced and he wears a jade ornament. A large necklace and armbands cover his torso and forearms. The body position is graceful and the gestures fluid. The front of her body is slightly bent, her head erect in a hieratic posture. The hip is covered with a wide belt enriched with a large band of fabric falling to the back. Opposite him are two offerings, one in the form of a tray with three fruits personified by glyphs and the other in the form of a cylindrical vase with a hat-shaped lid. The second scene shows the God D Itzamma sitting cross-legged on his throne. The God Itzamma is richly adorned with a saltire necklace with anthropomorphic amulets of precious jade, ear ornaments and numerous jewels. His spectacular headdress, as befits important gods, is decorated with exotic bird feathers, an avian tiara, stylized flowers, a radiant medallion and long hair with a studied dissymmetry. On the right side a banner with an ideogram linked to the lower part of his throne attests his divine status. The decoration of this magnificent vase is underlined by incisions with precise curves accentuating the outline of the forms. Beige terracotta with cream decoration in reserve, traces of red ochre pigments or cinnabar. Slightly broken and glued, tiny fillings not exceeding 1 or 2% of the overall mass of the work, very small chip on the neck and slight chips. The whole can be considered in good general state of conservation. Maya, Mexico, Late Classic period 600-900 AD 17.5 x 15.4 cm This vase was discussed at the Eighth European Conference on the Maya held in Madrid in 2004, where the authors discovered a possible complete form of the syllable "yu". They praised during this one, its extraordinary quality and the rarity of the representation of this glyph present in the sequence. The two sequences of writings (partially elucidated) are arranged in cartouches in the form of temple stairs and rectangular on two columns, they convey a message for a better understanding of the scene. Their translations name the god D, Itzamma, an untranslated character name, (the character represented before the God?), a vase to drink cocoa and the accomplishment of a task. The full report of this scientific discussion, carried out by Dimitri Beliaev and Raphael Tunesi will be given to the purchaser. These few precious pieces of information allow us to imagine that these texts indicate the accession to the throne of a lord, after a ceremony during which he would have drunk in this vase a hallucinogenic and psychotropic drink made of Cacao, as was customary among the Maya. Itzamma is an important deity of the Maya mythology, in the codices it appears under the letter D. He was the god of the Sky, the Night and the Day. In these last two functions, he was closely linked to Kinich Ahau, the god of the sun, and to Ix Chel, the goddess of the moon, whose husband he was probably. He invented writing, books, established the rites of religious ceremonies and taught medicine to healers. He was a benevolent deity who was rather worshipped by the noble classes of the society. He was often represented, as is the case here, close to a lord.